July i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



41 





SUGG'S STEAM COFFEE-ROASTER. 

 A few weeks ago Mr. Walter King, Bolt-Court Loudon, 

 published a pamphlet that deserves the attention of all who 

 are foud of a cup of good coffee. It is entitled : " Coffee 

 and the application of Gas to Coffee-Roasting, by Wil.iam 

 T. Sugg." 



It would appear that in England as well as Holland, the 

 proper preparation of Coffee is au unknown art, and, as 

 the author says, it has become an article of faith that the 

 English have no coffee that is worthy to be called by that 

 name. This is a great error. The very best raw coffee 

 can easily be obtained, but it is generally spoiled by the 

 manner of treat incut. 



The only great secret in the preparation of coffee is that 

 it must be freshly roasted, and ground, if possible, while 

 hot. At all events, it ought not to be kept longer that 

 a few days, if we wish to taste the true flavour oi bne 

 colter. The aroma is very volatile and soon passes off. 



Hence coffee, even if pure, roasted in large- quantities and 

 kept at the grocer's tall purchased, loses all its aroma, and 

 the ordinary process of roasting it in a cylinder turned by 

 a handle over a charcoal fire, is too tedious for household 

 use; therefore the author of this brochure, who has ti led 

 coffee-masting in small quantities in a variety of ways, 

 has considered it ill all its bearings. 



After many trials he has succeeded in designing a new 

 coffee-roasting apparatus, which is entirely self-acting, speedy 

 and practicable. 



This apparatus shown in the diagram given below, consists 

 of a close-ended cylinder with a sliding door in it, into 

 which the coffee berries are put. The cylinder is provided 

 with a central shaft running through it, and projecting out 

 of it at each end. One end is fixed into a wooden handle, 

 and at the other is the bearing on which it turns. Close 

 to the handle is a cogwheel which, when the cylinder is 

 put into its place ready for roasting, gears into an endless 

 worm. The worm is driven by a small Steam-Engine, working 

 under a pressure of 1 or 2 lb. to the square inch. 



The steam for working the little engine is produced from 

 a small brass boiler, strong enough to withstand a pressure 

 of 150 lb. on the square inch. The working pressure is not 

 more than 2 lb., so that it is perfectly safe in the hands of 

 the most inexperienced, the more so, as it is provided with 

 the necessary* safety apparatus. A pipe from the boiler 

 communicates with the condensing box at the back of the 

 apparatus, into which the steam from the engine condenses. 

 The engine-boiler is heated by a small gas-burner under it. 

 The coffee being placed in the cylinder, and the engine 

 set going, a series of burners under the cylinder roasts the 

 coffee. This gas is also regulated, so that it can always be 

 turned on full and left to work by itself when the coffee 

 is roasting. 



The speed of the coffee-cylinder is 10 or 12 revolutions 

 per minute, a little faster, or a little slower, will not hurt. 

 When properly regulated it will take from 12 to 15 minutes 

 to roast the coffee. The quantity of gas required for a 

 charge of i lb. is from 2J ft, to 3 ft. the cost of which is less 

 than half a farthing. 



After the- apparatus is started, i> may be left alone to 

 work by itself for about ten minutes, or until the scent of 

 the roasting coffee proclaims that the work is approaching 

 a satisfactory conclusion!. The, aroma of the coffee is 

 exceedingly pleasant, and it is one of the best deodorizers 

 we have. 



A trial or two will be sufficient for the acquisition of 

 the necessary skill for the successful use of the apparatus. 

 So much for the machine. The writer then goes on to 

 explain the lest methods for making good coffee, which 

 would lead us too far from our object, which, is to make 

 our readers acquainted with this useful coffee-roaster.— /» Si'oji 

 Mercury. 



♦ 



GROUND PEPPER, 

 The attention of the trade is being seriously directed 

 to the fact that so-called ground black pepper is being 

 freely offered at juices far below the cost of the lowest 

 whole pepper, which is the more remarkable, as the cost 

 of, and loss in, grinding is at least id. pound. The chief 

 explanation of this remarkable state of things is to be 

 found in the following facts:— White and black peppers 

 are both, as is well known, the produce of the same vines, 



and the difference is simply due to the removal of the 

 outer or darker portion of the corns in the former: white 

 pepper being the same as black but less the dark skin. 

 This envelope, or outer coating, used always to be removed 

 abroad, and by a process which, if it be as is reported, 

 was by no means an agreeable one to reflect upon. Some 

 years back, owing to speculation, white pepper was driven 

 up to famine prices. It was then found that black pepper 

 could lie hUsked hen- by suitable machinery, and that the 

 resultant white pepper had a preferable colour, when 

 ground, to that which was made abroad. Consequently 

 the process known as "decorticating," that is, of remov- 

 ing the outer husk from black pepper, and of leaving only 

 the central white portion of the corns, has become gen- 

 eral here. The question then arose of what was to be 

 done with the large proportion of black husks which were 

 removed by decortication, and it has been solved by sim- 

 ply grinding them up with whole black pepper, and selling 

 the produce as ground black pepper. The white pepper 

 prepared in England by decortication fetches such a high 

 price, that the refuse husks can be sold at an excee-dingly 

 low rate, and then mixed off, and used to reduce the 

 selling price of ground black pepper far below the original 

 cost of the raw material. 



The question whether such a practice is allowable is one 

 of degree, for black pepper has always been ground with 

 its husk, but the mixture, in the process of grinding, of 

 a larger proportion of husk than appertains to the pep- 

 per, might be carried on to a point, at which the pro- 

 duct might be more rightly termed ground black pepper 

 husks. Still, the practice could scarcely be called adulter- 

 ation, as the husk has pungent qualities, serviceable for 

 the uses to which pepper is put, and it is not proved that 

 the inside of the grain is more useful than the outside. 

 Indeed, a large number of persons much prefer black to 

 white pepper. 



It is also to be said in favour of the husks in ques- 

 tion, that decortication cannot be well practised with the 

 very lowest qualities of black pepper, so that the husks 

 are from a superior quality of pepper to that which is 

 often ground. Still, allowing all this, there is much to be 

 said on the other side. A wheat miller may with perfect 

 propriety sift his flour into various degrees of whiteness, 

 and offer it as first, seconds, and thirds, mixing off a por- 

 tion of the bran, but if he ground up his bran by some 

 new process so as to make it resemble flour, for which he 

 passed it off, he would be doing something more nearly 

 resembling what has recently been clone with pepper. The 

 spice grinder, in the same way, may sort out his pepper 

 into various degrees of fineness or colour, and offer them 

 at proportionate prices. But if he exaggerated the oper- 

 ation, the question would certainly arise whether he would 

 be justified in grinding the husks, and then, by implication, 

 selling them as the produce of the entire peppercorn— for 

 such ground black pepper is certainly supposed to be. 



It is well to remember, if any public question arises 

 as to these matters, that the whole consequences would 

 fall, not upon the wholesale dealer, but upon the retail 

 grocers. If the latter offer as pepper, that is, as the pro- 

 duce of the entire corn, a material containing, say, 50 to 

 80 per cent of the husks or shells, the fact is sure to be 

 detected by the chemical tests now in vogue, especially 

 as the proportion of dirt always contained in unscrei aed 

 pepper, even of the fine pepper used for decorticatiug, is 

 to be found entirely in the husks. The law w-ould find 

 out the misrepresentation by discovering the differing pro- 

 portions in the constituents of ground pepper and ground 

 husks, and not improbably arrive at the conclusion that 

 there was none. It is true that it is not believed that 

 any one has as yet gone so far as to grind husks only 

 and call them pepper, but, judging from the prices quoted, 

 a good deal of progress has been made in that direction. 

 Of course, pepper ground whole, as has been said above, 

 must include some- husks, and therefore all these points 

 are questions of degree. The grocers, however, run a serious 

 risk in buying very low-priced ground peppers, and con- 

 sidering the small importance of the trivial extra profit, 

 even to those in a large way 'of business, it is surely to 

 their interest to discourage to the utmost all such depart- 

 ures from an old-established practice. Already not only 

 are husks very freely employed to "reduce" co- 

 long pepper, a totally different commodity, is added to the 



